Kenyan minister dies during Deutsche Welle interview

NAIROBI – Kenya’s tourism and wildlife minister Emmanuel Karisa Maitha has died of a heart attack during a press interview in Germany, reports said on Friday.

After Maitha collapsed during an interview with Deutsche Welle in Frankfurt on Thursday, he was taken to hospital, but doctors failed to resuscitate him, wrote the East African Standard newspaper. The minister had a history of heart problems.He was the fourth minister to die while in office under the current coalition government which came to power early last year.Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki said in a condolence message that he had lost a friend and comrade.The Standard said Maitha, who was local government minister before being given the tourism portfolio, had quickly earned the nickname “Hurricane” for his abrasive approach to incompetence and inefficiency in local government.The report went on to say that Maitha will go down in Kenyan history as a colourful and controversial political operator, with a great appetite for political triumph.Maitha is survived by three wives and 10 children.- Sapa-DPAThe minister had a history of heart problems.He was the fourth minister to die while in office under the current coalition government which came to power early last year.Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki said in a condolence message that he had lost a friend and comrade.The Standard said Maitha, who was local government minister before being given the tourism portfolio, had quickly earned the nickname “Hurricane” for his abrasive approach to incompetence and inefficiency in local government.The report went on to say that Maitha will go down in Kenyan history as a colourful and controversial political operator, with a great appetite for political triumph.Maitha is survived by three wives and 10 children.- Sapa-DPA